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The WOG : employee newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife, 01/2012

W I L D L I F E • O • G R A M
Continued on next page.
Employee Newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
January 2012
Pittman-Robertson Act Turns 75
This year marks the
75th anniversary
of the Pittman-
Robertson Act, the
legislation that first
established the
Wildlife Restoration
Program. I guess
I’ve been saying
the term “Pittman-
Robertson Act”
for so long that I
forgot that Pittman
was a real person,
and that Robertson was too. Who
were these men? And what was it that
caused them to create that particular bill
that would prove so helpful to wildlife
agencies decades later?
To celebrate the three-quarter of a
century milestone, the Wildlife & Sports
Fish Restoration program (WSFR) has
provided some fascinating background
on the events that led up to the
creation of the bill. It is a great tale of
overcoming the odds.
In Oklahoma, as with most of
North America, early settlers disrupted,
destroyed and polluted the pristine
and abundant natural resources. They
did so out of ignorance, of course, but
the damage remained – by statehood,
Oklahoma’s deer population was on the
brink of decimation and other species
were not far behind.
As WSFR notes, “Awakening
America to the need for conservation
was a painfully slow process, with
a monumental learning curve. We
simply did not understand the intricate
workings of the natural systems we
were destroying. We did not understand
predator/prey relationships, or habitat
or range requirements.”
The political will to change and
reform how Americans used their
natural resources was beginning to
form, as states around the nation
established fish and game agencies
to govern and control hunters and
anglers. In our state, the Wildlife
Department was created in 1909
with the hiring of the first game
ranger. However, in Oklahoma and
elsewhere, these young agencies
faced enormous hurdles.
WSFR states, “Fish and wildlife
were given a legislative voice—and a
bank account. But it was not enough.
Underfunded, understaffed, and prone
to political interference, these fledgling
wildlife agencies more often than
not confronted frustration and failure
rather than success. The science of
fish and wildlife management simply
did not exist, and funds to better
understand the principles of fish and
wildlife restoration were non-existent.
Little money was available to acquire
land or pursue informed re-stocking
schemes. Law enforcement was
a slip-shod ineffective affair, often
the work of ill-equipped, political
appointees.”
It was a dire situation. And this is
where Robertson comes in.
His name was A. Willis Robertson,
and in 1929 he was the director of
Virginia’s fish and game agency. For
several years he had tried to lead
his agency in the face of the Virginia
state legislature regularly diverting
hunting and fishing license revenue to
other projects. What little money was
supposed to be his to work against
declining game populations frequently
disappeared. Discouraged, he wrote to
his good friend Billy Reed:
“I have been rushed to death
all of the summer and owing to the
unsettled political conditions, or the
inactivity of our wardens, or a growing
consciousness of the value of wild
CONTENTS
Game Bag......................................2
OK NASP Tournament �2
Commission Summary ��������������������3
Outdoor Adventures ����������������������5
Reelin’ In the Years ������������������������6
Ben Davis
Information
Specialist

W I L D L I F E • O • G R A M
Continued on next page.
Employee Newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
January 2012
Pittman-Robertson Act Turns 75
This year marks the
75th anniversary
of the Pittman-
Robertson Act, the
legislation that first
established the
Wildlife Restoration
Program. I guess
I’ve been saying
the term “Pittman-
Robertson Act”
for so long that I
forgot that Pittman
was a real person,
and that Robertson was too. Who
were these men? And what was it that
caused them to create that particular bill
that would prove so helpful to wildlife
agencies decades later?
To celebrate the three-quarter of a
century milestone, the Wildlife & Sports
Fish Restoration program (WSFR) has
provided some fascinating background
on the events that led up to the
creation of the bill. It is a great tale of
overcoming the odds.
In Oklahoma, as with most of
North America, early settlers disrupted,
destroyed and polluted the pristine
and abundant natural resources. They
did so out of ignorance, of course, but
the damage remained – by statehood,
Oklahoma’s deer population was on the
brink of decimation and other species
were not far behind.
As WSFR notes, “Awakening
America to the need for conservation
was a painfully slow process, with
a monumental learning curve. We
simply did not understand the intricate
workings of the natural systems we
were destroying. We did not understand
predator/prey relationships, or habitat
or range requirements.”
The political will to change and
reform how Americans used their
natural resources was beginning to
form, as states around the nation
established fish and game agencies
to govern and control hunters and
anglers. In our state, the Wildlife
Department was created in 1909
with the hiring of the first game
ranger. However, in Oklahoma and
elsewhere, these young agencies
faced enormous hurdles.
WSFR states, “Fish and wildlife
were given a legislative voice—and a
bank account. But it was not enough.
Underfunded, understaffed, and prone
to political interference, these fledgling
wildlife agencies more often than
not confronted frustration and failure
rather than success. The science of
fish and wildlife management simply
did not exist, and funds to better
understand the principles of fish and
wildlife restoration were non-existent.
Little money was available to acquire
land or pursue informed re-stocking
schemes. Law enforcement was
a slip-shod ineffective affair, often
the work of ill-equipped, political
appointees.”
It was a dire situation. And this is
where Robertson comes in.
His name was A. Willis Robertson,
and in 1929 he was the director of
Virginia’s fish and game agency. For
several years he had tried to lead
his agency in the face of the Virginia
state legislature regularly diverting
hunting and fishing license revenue to
other projects. What little money was
supposed to be his to work against
declining game populations frequently
disappeared. Discouraged, he wrote to
his good friend Billy Reed:
“I have been rushed to death
all of the summer and owing to the
unsettled political conditions, or the
inactivity of our wardens, or a growing
consciousness of the value of wild
CONTENTS
Game Bag......................................2
OK NASP Tournament �2
Commission Summary ��������������������3
Outdoor Adventures ����������������������5
Reelin’ In the Years ������������������������6
Ben Davis
Information
Specialist